Well one way Jodi differs from the Breaking Bad guy is that she is not all that intelligent. She likes to think she is, and she can speak in a rather articulate manner, but the way she planned, executed, and explained the murder was just plain stupid and does not reveal her to have a high IQ. She made multiple mistakes that most idiots would have avoided, and she badly misjudged both the public's and the jury's intelligence from the get go. She's really not the sharpest tool in the shed, much less does she approach genius level IQ.
Two armed Ninjas are in the bathroom having brutally murdered Travis. But Jodi grabs her purse (!) and "pushes past them" to safety. I mean, really? I have to credit Flores for not bursting into laughter during that interview.
She also cuts and pastes her vocabulary so it comes out "off." I don't know if she'd ever have had the potential to get her language right: it has to flow straight from the brain, and you have to hang out with people who have large vocabularies. Jodi can't do either of these things: she manipulates all of her brain material into lies, and no one wants to hang out with her. She is very ordinary when it comes to language: maybe a bit ahead for someone with a 10th grade education, but very average at college entrance level. Plus, she has no discipline; you need discipline to do all of this. As for content (e.g. in her diaries), she's very 7th grade.
Jodi sprinkles longer words into whatever she says. This sprinkling is for manipulation. It's not about meaning.
I guess most trials are something of a game of words and language facility. Jodi was outmatched in every direction. Not only were the PT (and JSS) a classy lot, but their language skills were remarkable. EF has better command of language and its precise usage than any of the Ph.D.'s called. I don't think EF has a Ph.D., but a bow to him for his artfulness. Think of his command of the facts, as even as early as July of 2008! He comes off as just a regular guy, plain speaking, straightforward. But his word choices are very calculated. And he can do it under intense pressure. (I'll bet his interrogation of JA gets watched over and over in the prosecutor's office, just because his talent is so extraordinary and it's a tour de force.) Genius, EF, genius.
JSS is always plain-spoken from the bench, but her writing quite gives away that she has a phenomenal brain. Her ability to synthesize is extraordinary, as was clear from her omnibus ruling on all the computer BS and the "prosecutorial misconduct." She dispensed with all of it in, what, 4 pages?
I've spoken elsewhere about JM's linguistic talents.
But there were other folks, witnesses, who could run circles around Jodi (and her team) when it comes to language. These include Deanna (who can find words under pressure when I would be a frozen mess), Abe (who catches on to verbal manipulation), and even the Bishop who obviously couldn't imagine using words the way the DT did.
And then there was Demarte......
Nurmi's and Wilmott's language skills are appalling considering how much education they think they've had. They don't even have an SAT level vocabulary! They can't write a grammatically correct sentence to save their lives. When they couldn't understand a word, they'd just Object as though JM was trying to sneak something past them. (He probably was, but it was over their heads). I would hope the universities that granted them their degrees are embarrassed: perhaps these campuses have increased their writing and speaking standards now that deficiencies have played out all over the media? I trust the State of Arizona didn't have to pay for their educations in addition to their paychecks for Jodi's trial.
